Is It Spring Yet?

It's been snowing here again... it's still sub-zero cold here also... I came home from work yesterday to find the house chilly ( never a good sign in the winter during a major cold snap ).
I went to look at the thermostat and found it said that although I had it set on 62 degrees F it was actually only 56 degrees F in the house and the furnace was blowing cold air! Way to end my Friday! Thought we had run out of oil!( I had a delivery set up to come on Saturday already) I called my heating and oil company and they sent someone over. Turns out the fuel filter was clogged and needed to be replaced.( I still had oil )

While waiting for the furnace guy I started a fire in the fireplace.  I'm thinking about getting a wood stove insert for my fireplace. One of my neighbors have one and they love it! It really saves them on their heating oil and boy does it heat up their downstairs!

pin from Wise Words Board

So this week was a little nuts...  Monday was a holiday for Martin Luther King's Birthday, that was all good, things went downhill from there...(ha!) Tuesday I stayed home with a horrible cold and it snowed ( again...) Wednesday we ( it was a family snow shoveling party( at 6;30 a.m.), much joy(not) was had shoveling in the below zero wind chills) had to shovel driveway so we could get out for work(7in) had a delayed opening,( still didn't feel great) all day the kids ( 3d-5th grade) kept asking," Why does your voice sound funny?" ( I have a cold, lol).  Go home Wednesday with all intentions to finish loading my SGO data I didn't get done but went right to bed.

pin from Wise Words Board

 Got up Thursday feeling much better but still had a stuffy nose, re-organized room after sub on Tuesday, one of my colleagues told me they helped her get started( new sub) she couldn't find my desk,( I share a room with the music teacher, his desk is barren, mine is colorful and has a big sign with my name on it!) She couldn't figure out my sub plan binder( super organized with everything you need, all sections tabbed and there are even photos showing locations of items in the room a sub might need, many lessons to choose from and the option of letting kids use the activity center if they are not comfortable with the lessons) she told my colleague she didn't realize it was this much work ( Ha! Did you think we play all day?!) The kids liked her though, said she was nice.

pin from Wise Words Board

A lot of the week was like this...  the weather has been gross and cold, the kids have not been able to get out for recess in forever ( never, ever a good thing...) all month we have all been doing mid-assessments with them and everybody is "assessed out" and even though we had a three day weekend last week I think what we really need is some warmer, sunny days! A lot of the kids are sick with various ailments, colds, flu, stomach virus. I have had more kids putting supplies ( markers, pencils,erasers) in their mouths this year! Yuck! Hello, germs everybody... Yesterday I had a first grader chewing on his dollar bill he had with him for lunch! Ewww! it's the older kids too! 

pin from Wise Words Board

We are working on several color projects and some perspective in class right now.  The landscapes in 4th grade are coming out amazing! The are mixing all their colors and I told them they could paint their landscape any colors that made them happy! The results and satisfaction with their pieces is so much better than if I had given them specific parameters to follow. I should have some good pictures for you next week ( I forgot to bring my camera to school yesterday )

pin from Wise Words Board

I am done freaking out about all the new teaching regulations...  I will comply with all my new regulations and paper work but we are are going to be creating as much as possible for creativity's sake, because we really need it! My second observation is done and it all turned out well, one more left next marking period ( unannounced, which means I have to be ready to perform my 16 different components in the observation framework at any given 20 minute period of time... ha!ha!) My SGO data is going well and I am learning some good things from it all even though it is SO MUCH paperwork for the district and State dept. of Education!

It is what it is people... that's what I keep saying this year... complaining will only make you miserable...

I'm off to do some errands and then I am going to spend the rest of the day doing what I want...

maybe I will get to finish up the shawl I have been working on... definitely making up pot of stew for later (yum...)

Stay warm if you are in the deep freeze like us ( single-digits and below zero wind chills!) Although cold is relative to what you are used to so I'm sure that for some of you 30 degrees F is pretty cold. At this point when we break 30 F again we are going to be telling the kids they have to zipper up their coats even though it feels warm compared to what it's been like! I had kids coming to school with shorts on this week(boys 3d-5th) REALLY! I swear people don't look or care what their kids put on their bodies before they leave in the morning! Some were only coming in with sweatshirts, no coats!( and these are the kids that own nice coats and clothing!) Ok, off my soap box...

Have a great weekend all!!!

Mrs. "C"  :)

(UPDATE: Just looked out the window and "oh yea! It's snowing again...")

Assessments to the Left, Projects to the Right....

What a wacky week!!!  I've been trying to finish up mid-assessments with my SGO groups and my K-2 have been working on their giant class Hearts of Kindness for our school's Kindness and justice week for Martin Luther King's birthday.  I was inspired by this pin and this pin. More on what we did with these when we are done with it next week.  

On Deep Space Sparkle Patty recently offered a free download of a 2014 calendar she made up.  It's a great calendar for school or home to keep track of your daily happenings! I printed it up , stapled it together and attached it to a background. It's hanging behind my desk on my window at school. Sorry for the darkish picture... it was snowing again yesterday and it was dark outside. 

It was FREEZING out this week! Monday evening through Wednesday saw below zero temperatures and 15- 20 below zero F wind chills here in Northern NJ!  My school and many more had delayed openings on both days.  I was getting used to school starting at 10:00 a.m. everyday! 

I have my 2nd round observation coming up on Tuesday next week. This one is an announced observation so I had some pre-observation questions I had to answer and upload to my account on Teachscape for my administrator to view before Thursday a.m. so we could have a pre-conference meeting on Thursday.

Here are the questions I had to answer: ( ready for this? )

1.)  To which part of your curriculum does this lesson relate?

2.)  How does this learning "fit" in the sequence of learning for this lesson?

3.)  Briefly describe the students in this class, including those with special needs.

4.)  What are your learning outcomes for this lesson? What do you want the students to understand?

5.)  How will you engage the students in the learning? What will you do? What will the students do? Will the students work in groups, or individually, or as a group? Provide any worksheets the students will be using.

6.)  How will you differentiate instruction for different individuals and groups of students in the class?

7.)  How and when will you know whether the students have learned what you intend?

8.)  Is there anything that you would like me to specifically observe during this lesson?

Yeah, all that...  I felt like I was back in college working on an assignment for a class! I was at my PLC Monday afternoon when I was reading all the questions, my other administrator happened to be present and I was like... OMG!!! They smiled in what I took as agreement and told me to keep it brief. So I did, but in a way that I feel was very professionally written, siting curriculum standards and specific IEP modifications where needed. Seeing that everything I upload to this site can be viewed by any administrator in the district including the superintendent, I am making sure I am keeping any "snarkyness" to myself...  there's a time and a place for everything...

This so looks like a beautiful abstract sunset to me! It's one of the 4th graders mixing plate from the landscapes they have been working on.  I have had them mixing all the colors for their paintings and they are creating the most incredible color values!!! How I wish we had so much longer than 30 minutes for class because they were so involved I hated stopping them to clean up!

The lesson was inspired by the beautiful paintings that Laura, from Painted Paper had her students create earlier this year.  If you have never been to her site go visit! Her students create gorgeous pieces!  More on what my 4th grades did with this lesson when they are complete!

I do love Crayola tempera but due to the fact that I can no longer afford it in my budget I have tried the Sax Versa Temp this year and I am very, very satisfied with it's texture and mixing properties!  

The paints are looking a little nasty at the moment!  :)  They show that great creativity and involvement in the objective that was going on! :)

The students loved trying different combinations of colors to get different values of brown! As I was circulating the room I could hear them all saying things like," Wow! Look at the color I just got! " and sharing with each other what colors they combined to create their loved colors! Boring assessments became a thing of the past and creativity was alive in the art room once more! ( I know that the purpose of these assessments are to be able to track my students learning ( and how well I am teaching them ) but seriously from a creative standpoint, they really are boring...  :(  The kids keep asking WHY? This is ART! We are supposed to be creating, not taking tests! 4th and 5th grade can be very insightful at times...) 

My 5th grades are finishing up their mid-assessments and a surrealism project this week. Next week they also begin their journey into everything color! They are going to be working with monochromatic values. This project is always a favorite! I have done it with 2nd to 5th grade and it's always a hit! The finished pieces are always stunning! 5th grade saw the beginning example on the board this week and is anxious to start! :)  

Happy to see the drying racks again filled with drying paintings! All is good in the art room once again! 

It's actually rainy ( very rainy ) and 50 degrees F here in NJ today! A stark difference to the past week! I'm off to go put on a pot of sauce for supper tonight and work on some creative projects that have been sitting in limbo all week...  tomorrow I have to get my lesson plan and all my documents for the lesson together to up load onto Teachscape before Monday for my observation Tuesday.  Hope you all have a creative weekend! 

Mrs. "C"  :)